MUNICH—Volkswagen said it had reached an agreement that will have it pay a minimum of $1.22 billion to fix or buy back some 78,000 vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines to settle claims that the cars were sold with illegal emissions-cheating software.

The automaker said it submitted a proposed class settlement with private plaintiffs as well as a proposed consent order submitted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

In addition, Robert Bosch, which supplied VW with components for the diesel engines, also agreed to pay $327.5 million to diesel VW owners in the United States.

VW will recall and repair some 58,000 2013-2016 Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche vehicles with the 3.0-liter diesel engine to bring them into compliance with U.S. emissions standards. For 20,000 earlier such vehicles, namely those from 2009 through 2012, the automaker will buy back the vehicles or offer a trade-in credit for a new vehicle or, if approved by U.S. regulators, modify the vehicles to “substantially reduce” the vehicles’ nitrogen oxide emissions.

The settlements are the final major chapter in the Dieselgate scandal although the embattled German automaker still faces lawsuits from investors and some state regulators and attorneys general.

The big news in the hotel world was the 2017 opening of the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski in Havana, the city’s first proper grande dame of a hotel to open in the island nation. Located in the historic Manzana de Gómez building, Cuba’s first shopping mall in the center of Old Havana, the hotel is truly in a class of its own.
An oasis in a city that’s somewhat crumbling and …

A more complete story of how a Horizon Air employee was able to steal, fly, and subsequently crash an aircraft taken from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday evening is beginning to emerge as details come to light.
Richard B. Russell flew a Bombardier Dash 8 – Q400 turboprop plane for almost an hour over Puget Sound, even performing aerobatics, until it crashed on Ketron Island, off the shore of Steilacoom. Mr. Russell, …